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PDX-Tartine

Tartine is a little french bistro in SE Portland, across the street from Caprial's. I wanted to like it, I really did. I have yet to find a simple but dependably good french bistro for lunches in Portland. I miss Crepes Poulet, flaky custardy quiche, really good French Onion Soup, consistently good cassoulet, etc.

The menu and its list of sandwiches looked promising. We ordered a french onion soup to share, it was undercooked. You could actually taste raw onion. The broth was thin, it could have been canned it was so unremarkable. Ughhh! We barely touched it. Told the server it tasted undercooked and they credited the bill voluntarily.

I ordered the spinach-mozzarella quiche. The flavor was very eggy-cream rich but it was really a baked spinach custard, no crust, and it was really small. The tossed salad that accompanied it was pleasant but basically just mixed greens with a viniagrette.

The ham/cheese sandwich my sig. other ordered was okay, two paper thin slices of ham and melted cheese on a croissant. While it was the best of the three items it was just okay. Better croissants and croissant sandwiches at Kens, St. Honores and Grand Central.

How disappointing! Does anyone have any suggestions for better lunchtime french cuisine?

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